Exonerate Riel, NDP urges on 125 anniversary of Metis leader's execution

He was a traitor and 2nd we shouldnt even have a Metis status

First of all, does Martin really think that Louis Riel is a hero and not a traitor?
...Or is he doing this for votes or does he have another interest in this that we don't know?

Another thing I'd like to know, is there a lot of support (from where) besides the Metis for something like this?
...And do all the Metis agree with this?

No. Not unless the Metis want to celebrate Frederick Middleton Day as well.

In Manitoba, he's known as the founder of our province. Interestingly, this was in our paper the other day too:

Home named after enemy of Louis Riel


They made his house into a duplex, and Louis Riel's became a National Historic Site.

Or Thomas Scott Day. Riel was a traitor and there's nothing these revisionists can do that will change that fact.

Hell No! I don't know if we can go so far as to call him a "traitor" because he he would have had to have been "loyal" to the state in the first place. We should not forget however that he was a murderer and he lead not one but two armed rebellions. One against the Crown and ones against the Cdn.Government.

Those who wish to worship Riel are free to do so for their own reasons, but don't throw it down the throat of the rest of us. My deepest respect and admiration go's out to the men of the "Halifax Provisional Battalion" consisting of Militia units, R.C.A., Halifax Rifles & P.L.F. from this city who went out west to suppress his second rebellion.

I don't know if this was directed at me for posting, but I meant no disrespect.

No, it wasn't directed at you mate! I am just well enough aware that there are people who do hold Riel in high regard. I am not in a position to tell them that they aren't entitled to that. Riel did after all stand up for a people he felt needed standing up for.

Where I disagree, is that he basically declared war twice and murdered a British surveyor. I don't believe he was hung as a "traitor" but if you murdered someone back in those days you usually hung for it. He played the game with the "big boys" or the British Empire and the newly formed Canadian government and they quelled both of his rebellions. If he had won, or made the Crown or Cdn.Government buckle than maybe we'd have a totally different landscape or outcome.

However rarely was this achieved through armed uprising, keep in mind also in the 1880's the Mahdi lead a rebellion that killed Charles Gordon and he was only able to keep the Brits out of the Sudan for about 10 years or so. In short, armed rebellion usually didn't end too well for those who started it against Imperial power. Canada's independence and nationhood was just budding at the time of the second rebellion. If he hadn't killed Thomas Scott then his sentence in my opinion should have been imprisonment. Once he killed that fellow though, the die was cast and justice served.

Thats more or less my position.

I wasn't sure. This is my MP who is raising this issue. Again, and again.. The Globe article (which is also an interesting read) says:



I don't think there's much to worry about, but I thought I'd inform you guys of what's happening in my part of the world.

Right on, I hope I didn't overreact. I can be a little passionate about history sometimes.

First of all, I don't believe in the concept of 'Metis'. I don't know why these people think their so special or should be privileged, one only needs to look at the mixed culture of South America. I don't see apologies and land treaties there.

Second, the concept of Riel is something of a East and West thing. Obviously Easterners would view somebody living out west going against the government as 'traitorous'. Fine. I view him as a religious nutjob who wanted equality with french and english in Manitoba, although if he had his way he most likely would have eventually eradicated english. The West was a vast frontier, barely colonized. Traitor? Hardly. SHould he have been punished for his crimes? MOst certainly. Other than a big piece of Canadian history, I don't see him as a hero or a martyr. As soon as he started hearing voices of 'god' that's when he went down hill and lost all credibility to be a hero.

I figure that the Metis, Catholics, and miscillaneous francophones out there can have Riel as a hero all they want. They weren't exactly treated well by the Crown, or the rest of English Canada either, so if they see anyone who stood up for them 'by any means necessary' then that's their thing to have. It's none of my business and I really don't have a right to tell them they're wrong.

I do have a problem, though, when I'm told by these ignorant tits in the NDP that Riel should be exonerated and that the rest of us absolutely must regard him as a hero. By the standards of the time, Riel WAS a rebel, a traitor, and a murderer. Even by the standards of today, those labels still accurately apply to him. As such, there's no way that some posthumous rehabilitation of Riel, accompanied by an obvious white-washing of his real history, should be forced on the rest of the country. It's just be morally and factually wrong, unforgivably so IMO, to do so.

I don't tell them who they can have for a hero. They could try to be polite enough to return the favour and not tell me that I absolutely have to see Riel in the same way that they do, especially when I find it impossible to do so. Pat Martin's tried this nonsense three times before and lost each time. Hopefully he'll end up losing again on this latest attempt.

But I gotta ask, .. why ?


Whats the push to do this, please keep in mind I think most politicians do very little
"for the good of the country"


So whats the deal ?


Votes ?

Money ?

Trying to rehabilitate his own family ?


Or is it because things are so great where you are; lots of jobs, no crime,
roads ok, they truly have nothing better to do ?


There has to be a reason why he keeps pushing this, any idea why ?

well, i'm sure that Louis will be so appreciative, and that all relevant ghosts of the rebellion will be...whatever...redeemed?

the ndp is subscribing to a pathetic, ass-kissing style of atavism that has no value in the here and now.